By 1986, Alan Moore had got a name for himself working on Swamp Thing, but it was Watchmen that really put him into the history books. Originally devised to star the Charlton Comics characters like the Question, Blue Beetle and more, Moore created a set of new characters that would be become famous across the globe and find themselves in a huge blockbuster movie. Sure, Moore may not have approved, but it was proof that Moore was the most important writer of his generation. Meanwhile however, Moore’s work could be continued to be found in the back of all-sorts of titles. In this second and final set of Moore’s miscellaneous DC works, we find one of the greatest Batman stories of the 1980s and one that would forever change the villain of the story. And no, I’m not talking about The Killing Joke…
Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual 2-3, Secret Origins (vol 2) 10, and Batman Annual 11 were published between 1986 to 1987. All stories were written by Moore, with art by various, such as Kevin O’Neill, Joe Orlando, Bill Willingham, Terry Austin, and George Freeman. I’ve read these issues in the DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore trade paperback.
Tygers --- Written by Alan Moore with art by Kevin O’Neill
Tygers is Alan Moore’s second Green Lantern work and this one focuses entirely on Abin Sur. For the three of you unaware, Abin Sur appeared in Showcase 22 back in 1959 and he was the dying Green Lantern who found Hal Jordan on Earth to pass on the heroic mantle. Many years before that fateful day, Abin Sur takes on a mission to head to the planet Ysm-Ault, once the home world of the evil and magical Empire of Tears. Although no more, the Empire’s creatures aren’t dead as they effectively haunt the planet. As fate would have it, a craft traced by Abin Sur crashed landed on the planet and the Green Lantern must investigate. There, he runs into the deformed monsters of the Empire, one of whom offers him the chance to ask three questions. He asks about the ship, and once he finds the broken-down vessel and an injured alien
child onboard, Abin Sur questionably stays behind to ask more. Earlier in the story, Abin Sur was told that only the Guardians of Oa have the permission to step foot upon the planet’s surface due to the power of the Empire. Really, Abin Sur should just get out, but the temptation of questions becomes too strong. Abin Sur learns not only of an oncoming catastrophe involving the Green Lanterns and a powerful being named Parallax (no, Moore doesn’t use his name, but DC use this story to create him), and Sur’s own fate in the near future. Although the hero dismisses the Empire’s claims, their laughs can be heard years later as Abin Sur’s ship crashes through the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s never really clear who the Empire is, or their real goal. I guess they’re just malicious for the sake of it and like to toy with their victims, but I do like the story for expanding Abin Sur’s character more. He was always more interesting than his successor. Moore writes the story with a sense of atmosphere, helped by the fact that we know Abin Sur’s future fate. In terms of the whole Parallax arch, who would have thought that Moore would have begun that whole saga for the 1990s. Sure, it was accidental and radically different to what happened later, but you get the point.
Kevin O’Neill’s art here oddly bridges the gap between old and new comics here. Perhaps I’m being pretentious and talking absolute tripe, but one panel features Abin Sur, in his bright green coloured costume with his vibrant skin colour, with the leader of Empire, depicted as a monstrous pale creature with black holes pierced through its skin and a design that makes it look like something from Hellblazer or Jamie Delano’s Animal Man. It displays how the art style and colouring of comics would change radically into the last decade of the century. Maybe I’m looking too deep into this, but that’s what I see anyway.
Story: 9/10
Art: 5/10
Footsteps --- Written by Alan Moore with art by Joe Orlando
For Secret Origins (vol 2) 10, DC decided to make the issue both a Legends crossover
and a four-story book, all four of which depicted the origin of the Phantom Stranger. To shake things up, all four origins would be very different from each other. Aside from Moore’s, the other stories were by Mike Barr, Paul Levitz, and Dan Mishkin. And, to tell you the honest truth, I bet all of those were much better than Moore’s story. As a character, I really like the Phantom Stranger, and there is a real mystery behind his character, origin, and what he really represents. Granted, Moore explores that, but not in the way I’d have liked. In the modern day, the Phantom Stranger follows a man rejected and beaten by two gangs, the Guardian Angels and Subway Survivalists. When the man is all alone, the Phantom Stranger helps him. Effectively, it’s a representation of what Moore’s depiction of the Phantom Stranger’s origin is. During a rebellion in Heaven, the Phantom Stranger was the one angel to not choose a side, and he was forced to lose his angel wings and powers. Now, that all sounds fine, but the problem is that I had to get most of this information from DC Database, not by actually reading the story. I find it both a dry and nonsensical read. It’s often not clear which scene is a flashback and which is in the current day, and it explores an aspect of the Phantom Stranger which I’m not particularly interested in. The godly side of most of those characters like the Phantom Stranger and the Spectre don’t interest me hugely. At least in John Ostrander’s Spectre run, that aspect of the run wasn’t embellished too much, and it didn’t play a major part of the run. There is too much of that pretentiousness with Moore’s story and it suffers greatly from it. Moore may capture the mystery of the Phantom Stranger, but not in the way I envisioned or wanted…
Although often sloppy, Orlando’s art captures the mood of your average Phantom Stranger story. He looks darkly mysterious and the setting, particularly in the modern day, works very well. It is slightly forgettable when you compare it to the great Jim Aparo, who drew another story in the book, but overall, it’s not bad.
Story: 3/10
Art: 5.5/10
In Blackest Night --- Written by Alan Moore with art by Bill Willingham and Terry Austin
Green Lantern Corps, as a title, always appeared to be more interesting than the mainstream Green Lantern stories. In those stories, you’d have Hal Jordan doing the same thing every issue, while in the Corps stories, you’d have a different Green Lantern and a unique story, especially if it’s by Alan Moore. In Blackest Night is one of the strangest stories of the lot. It features Katma Tui as the Green Lantern while she explains to the Guardians that she went off in search of a new recruit for the universe-wide grassy-coloured police force. On a world of darkness, Katma Tui finds a blind alien creature. Katma Tui tries to inform the creature of the Corps but realises that since the planet has no light and the creature has no sight, the words “Green” and Lantern” do not exist in the alien’s language. Therefore, Katma Tui works out a unique oath for the alien that allows him to become a Green Lantern. It’s a short little story that explores an interesting area. When you see the Green Lantern Corps, hardly any of them look human. They’re a police force for the universe, and all races unite to fight evil and injustice. It’s great to see new types of Green Lanterns, especially more unique ones that are blind. Moore explores a new area that’s never really been thought about and overall, he writes a fantastic and totally unique story. I say that a lot about Moore, don’t I?
Although slightly bland, Willingham’s pencils with Austin’s fantastic inks provide some good art here. Perhaps Austin is great at making most pencillers look great, but the finished art works well with Moore’s very visually dark tale.
Story: 10/10
Art: 8/10
Mortal Clay --- Written by Alan Moore with art by George Freeman
When everyone thinks of Alan Moore and Batman, one story comes to mind. The Killing Joke was one of the most crucial stories to star the Dark Knight in the late 1980s and it explored the relationship between Batman and the Joker incredibly deeply. However, it wasn’t the first time Moore had done that, particularly with Batman. Batman Annual 11 was like any other than from 1987, featuring two stories to split forty pages. The latter story by Max Allen Collins and Norm Breyfogle stars the Penguin and is an enjoyable story that would later influence an episode of the fantastic Batman: The Animated Series. Moore’s story, however, is in another ballpark entirely. Preston Payne’s Clayface has always been my favourite from the Mud Pack. Originally created by Len Wein and Marshall Rogers in Detective Comics 478, this twisted villain suffers excruciating pain which is only relieved when his burning-hot hands come into contact with human flesh. Moore writes the character with severe schizophrenia as Payne spends nights in Gotham searching for his love: a shop window dummy in an upmarket fashion shop. When he finds his love and the sun sets, Payne is all alone with his love. One day however, Payne notices his love has gone missing. He searches the building and finds her in the nightwear department. Although Payne dresses her up, he becomes even more insecure, believing that his love is having an affair. Now (continued)
this is far more revolutionary than The Killing Joke. Even though Moore radically changes an aspect of the main antagonist in both, Mortal Clay’s change is far more radical and game-changing. It’s only a shame that Clayface isn’t as popular as the Joker. Anyway, Payne later watches a nightguard stealing his lover’s neck scarf. Believing it to mean something else entirely, Payne violently murders the guard. Not long after however, that all-too familiar Bat-Signal appears in the sky over Gotham. Batman heads into the building and, to cut a long fight short, defeats Payne to the point where he is a mentally broken man begging for forgiveness from his lover. Like at the end of The Killing Joke, Batman looks at his fallen enemy for the first time with sorrow and sympathy. He offers him help. Although Payne’s wish to be incarcerated with his lover in Arkham Asylum, their “marriage” is dead. All trust and love are gone, but Payne finds relief that his lover won’t live forever. Moore explores Payne as a very different character to what we’re used to. Really, he isn’t a villain, just a tortured soul who has to kill to survive. Moore’s inclusion of Payne’s love life with a dummy is what makes the story brilliant. We virtually see their whole life together and at the end, although we obviously know the dummy is a dummy, we still hold a glimmer of hope that the dummy is real and human. I enjoy this story for the same reasons I really like The Killing Joke, but this is marginally better because I feel there’s more of a human connection here with Payne. Moore writes him uniquely and while Batman doesn’t feature much in the story, he is more than just a hero arriving at the last minute to end it all. Like Payne, Batman too has an obsession. Although they’re both very different characters, there is a similarity between them and that’s why, as with the Joker, Batman spares sometime for poor old Preston Payne…
When George Freeman drew this story and featured Preston Payne as the main character, his disgusting and monstrous art style look great. Payne rarely looked human, and Freeman gave his dummy lover a completely blank and human-less appearance. In essence, Freeman’s art looks frightening when monsters are involved. Freeman however seems to make everyone look like a monster. Even Batman and Gordon look slightly deformed and ugly. Sure, make Clayface frightening, but not everyone else.
Story: 10/10
Art: 6/10
VERDICT
Overall, this second and final set of Moore’s work depicts two of my favourite stories from his short time at DC. Although the Phantom Stranger story, plainly put, isn’t very good, the Abin Sur story is very creative and unique. Both In Blackest Night and especially Mortal Clay show Alan Moore at his best, writing a totally unique story with believable characters that really make you feel something. Even after this and knowing that The Killing Joke is probably one of the most popular Batman stories ever, I would still pick Mortal Clay over it easily, even if Brian Bolland easily kicks the hell out of George Freeman…
Stories: 8/10
Art: 6/10
Next Week: Uncle Sam (U.S. 1-2). Written by Steve Darnall with art by Alex Ross.
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